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The White Rose
The White Rose by Glen Cook is the third novel of the Black Company series. Published in April 1985, it is the third of the three Books of the North. The novel begins 6 years after Shadows Linger. The events of the short stories "Shaggy Dog Bridge" and "Bone Eaters" take place at some point during the first 4 years of the 6-year gap between Shadows Linger and The White Rose. From the back cover Summary The nucleus of the New White Rose Rebellion After the Battle of Juniper and the 4-year-long flight of the Black Company from the service of the Lady, the Company has taken up residence in a warren of caves called the Hole beneath the Plain of Fear. For two years after their arrival, they have formed the haggard core of the New White Rose Rebellion. Ironically, their Rebel predecessors had previously been hunted to near extinction by the Company themselves. Their only real asset is that the inhabitants of the Plain of Fear itself (massive windwhales and their attendant mantas, talking stones called menhirs, and others) have tacitly joined with the rebels against the Lady's Empire. Infiltrating the Barrowland garrison Croaker continues to scour through 80 pounds of documents originally recovered from Whisper during the Company's first campaign in the Lady's service. Within them, he hopes to find the Lady's true name, enabling the Company to rob the sorceress of her powers and enable her Empire to fall. However, Croaker begins receiving mysterious packets that contain the tale of Bomanz, the wizard who inadvertently freed the Lady back into the world. Deeply interested in both the story and its mysterious sender, Croaker leads a scouting expedition with One-Eye and Goblin, and also the rebellion's newest followers, Tracker and Toadkiller Dog. At the Barrowland, they discover that the source of Bomanz's story was actually an old member of the Company, Raven, who has since slipped into a coma after trying to enter the Barrowland using magic. More significantly, the rebels discover that continuous rainfall has caused the Great Tragic River to flood and the floodwaters are eroding the Dominator's prison away. The common threat Attempting to leave the Great Forest, the group is accosted by Imperial forces and Croaker is captured. When he awakens, he is at the fortress at Deal, in the custody of the Limper and Whisper, who plan to torture him and then kill him. Luckily for Croaker, the Lady intercedes and stops them, and has Croaker transferred to her own custody in the Tower at Charm. While there, the Lady has Croaker resume writing the Annals, continuing to insist that she wants an unbiased chronicle of her rule. Croaker warns her about the danger posed by the erosion at the Great Barrow. The Lady is far more concerned with the possible return of the Dominator than with the rebellion, and she asks Croaker to take her to meet with Darling. Battle outside Horse Before the meeting, the Lady decides to make a show of strength outside the village Horse. With her new engines of war (heavily-modified flying carpets and various armaments for them) she takes on Darling's windwhales as well as a large force of rebel soldiers. In the end, Darling is turned back, but the Lady orders her forces not to pursue. She and Croaker depart into the Plain of Fear on foot, with the Lady pretending to be simply Croaker's traveling companion. During the journey, the two grow closer, relating more as humans and equals than as Empress and Rebel. Inside the Company stronghold, the Lady helps Croaker translate old documents, this time prioritizing the Dominator's true name over all else. Father Tree intervenes Sometime later, Tracker, Toadkiller Dog, and the Company wizards finally return from the wilderness, having escaped from the Lady's troops at last. However, something seems to be wrong with the wizards. It is revealed that Tracker and Toadkiller Dog are actually ancient minions of the Dominator who had been interred in the Barrowland alongside him, but were freed by Raven's foolhardy tinkering. Toadkiller Dog attempts to attack the Lady, but is injured by Father Tree who is now exposed to be a sentient, godlike entity. Toadkiller Dog flees but Tracker remains, now under Father Tree's control. The Tree also intervenes spectacularly in an assassination attempt by Scorn and Blister. Afterward, the Lady and Darling meet, and hammer out a truce. Soon, the White Rose's forces mobilize in full, and are joined by the new Taken and her imperial guard, and the entire force advances to the Barrowland. Preparing to confront the Dominator At the Barrowland, the Lady and her Taken manage to revive not only Raven but Bomanz as well. The Taken attempt to stop the flooding, but end up causing as much damage as they stop. The Lady resigns herself to battle the Dominator upon his release, but does not believe that she can win. She turns to Croaker for a measure of comfort, and their relationship deepens again. Croaker begins to have second thoughts about the Company's ongoing plans to assassinate the Lady. He still believes she must be toppled for the good of the world, but no longer fears or despises her as a person. Battle of the Barrowland Finally, the Lady and Darling work together to battle the Dominator. They release him from his prison, but within Darling's null, preventing him from using his unbeatable powers. Even without them, he proves unfathomably strong and nearly invincible, shrugging off many terrible wounds and killing many of his attackers, including the Lieutenant and Elmo, before finally succumbing. As One Eye and Goblin deal with the matter of finishing off the Dominator, the Limper turns on the Lady, shooting her with an arrow imbued with what he believes to be her true name. However, he is mistaken, and she survives. Croaker beheads the Limper and discards his head. With the Dominator beaten, the Lady names Darling's true name, destroying her null forever. In retaliation, Silent speaks his only words in all of the Annals and names the Lady, eliminating her abilities as a sorceress as well. Raven, seeing an opportunity to get back in the good graces of Darling and the Company, attempts to finish the Lady off, but Croaker shoots him in the hip and demands an end to all the bloodshed. Aftermath With the Company decimated even more completely than after the Battle of Juniper, Croaker is elected Captain by the few survivors. Silent and the three Torque brothers accept Croaker's offer to be discharged from the Company. Now the group is reduced to only six men: Croaker, One-Eye, Goblin, Otto, Hagop, and Murgen the young standard-bearer. They agree to follow Croaker south, toward the Company's fabled origin of Khatovar. To mixed reactions, Croaker elects to bring Lady along as well. List of editions The White Rose was published as a standalone novel (with the exception of the Russian 2-novel combos) in the following editions, translations, and formats. They are listed in order of publication, earliest first; some reappearances of the same translation may be grouped together. See also Books of the North for the list of omnibuses in which The White Rose appeared. British English Polish Russian (1997 AST Dragon Age Chronicles) Lithuanian German (1999 Blanvalet) The German translation published in 1999 by Blanvalet is out-of-print. French (1999 L'Atalante) The French translation, first published by L'Atalante, features original artwork by Didier Graffet throughout the book. Russian (2000 AST Golden Fantasy) novel pair This single hardcover containing both The White Rose and Shadow Games was part of the publisher's Golden Fantasy series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi). The cover of the first printings is shown here. For the 2008 reprint with an alternative cover, scroll farther down. Czech Spanish (2002 La Factoria) The novel was translated into Spanish by the famous Domingo Santos, and was published first by the fantasy publisher La Factoría de Ideas in Madrid in 2002. Bulgarian French (2005 J'ai lu) The same French translation previously published by L'Atalante (scroll farther up) was republished by J'ai lu in smaller paperback format poche with cover art by Johan Camou (left); this cover art was later replaced by the more abstract art of Slava Gerj (right) when the publisher did a cover refresh. Hungarian Serbian Russian (2008 AST Golden Fantasy) novel pair This single hardcover containing both The White Rose and Shadow Games was part of the publisher's Golden Fantasy series (Золотая серия фэнтези / Zolotaya seriya fentezi). This is a reprint with an alternative cover. To see the original cover which first published in 2000, scroll farther up. Russian (2008 AST Dragon Age 2) novel pair This single hardcover containing 2 novels was part of the publisher's Dragon Age 2 series (Век дракона 2 / Vek Drakona 2). Brazilian Portuguese Persian Finnish German (2017 Mantikore) The German translation published in 2017 by Mantikore is still available and is also on sale in e-book format. Polish audiobook Spanish (2019 Montena) Montena (Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial) picked up the rights to the Spanish translation that was originally published by La Factoría. It was republished in 2019 with new cover art by Adam S. Doyle. White Rose, The White Rose, The